Team

Staff Profiles

Assistant Investigator

Nathan Gouwens joined the Allen Institute in 2014 as a scientist in the Modeling, Analysis, and Theory group. Now as an Assistant Investigator, he is currently involved with developing biophysically detailed simulations of individual neurons in the mouse visual cortex. These simulations are based on combined electrophysiological and morphological data with the goal of determining how biophysical mechanisms shape the processing of visual information in cortex. Before joining the Allen Institute, Nathan was a graduate student in the lab of Rachel Wilson at Harvard Medical School. His graduate research involved analyzing how electrical signals propagated in the early olfactory circuit in Drosophila through a combination of electrophysiological experiments and computational models. Nathan received his PhD in Neurobiology from Harvard University, an MPhil in Biological Sciences from the University of Cambridge, and a BA in Integrated Science and Biological Sciences at Northwestern University.

Research Interests

Nathan Gouwens is studying how biophysical mechanisms influence the processing of visual information by cortical neurons through the development of detailed simulations. These biophysical models are based on electrophysiological measurements of intrinsic properties as well as detailed morphologies, which can also serve as building blocks for larger-scale network simulations. The aims are to integrate diverse data to reproduce experimentally-observed features of neuronal activity and to gain insights into how different biophysical mechanisms interplay to shape the role a neuron plays in visual circuits.

Expertise

Computational neuroscience
Biophysical modeling
Electrophysiology

Research Programs

Modeling, Analysis and Theory

Scaled, high fidelity electrophysiological, morphological, and transcriptomic cell characterization

eLife
August 13, 2021

Lee BR, Budzillo A, Hadley K, Miller JA, Jarsky T, Baker K, Hill D, Kim L, Mann R, Ng L, Oldre A, Rajanbabu R, Trinh J, Vargas S, Braun T, Dalley RA, Gouwens NW, Kalmbach BE, Kim TK, Smith KA, Soler-Llavina G, Sorensen S, Tasic B, Ting JT, Lein E, Zeng H, Murphy GJ, Berg J

A taxonomy of transcriptomic cell types across the isocortex and hippocampal formation

Cell
May 17, 2021

Yao Z, van Velthoven CTJ, Nguyen TN, Goldy J, Sedeno-Cortes AE, Baftizadeh F, Bertagnolli D, Casper T, Chiang M, Crichton K, Ding SL, Fong O, Garren E, Glandon A, Gouwens NW, Gray J, Graybuck LT, Hawrylycz MJ, Hirschstein D, Kroll M, Lathia K, Lee C, Levi B, McMillen D, Mok S, Pham T, Ren Q, Rimorin C, Shapovalova N, Sulc J, Sunkin SM, Tieu M, Torkelson A, Tung H, Ward K, Dee N, Smith KA, Tasic B, Zeng H.

Consistent cross-modal identification of cortical neurons with coupled autoencoders

Nature Computational Science
February 22, 2021

Gala R, Budzillo A, Baftizadeh F, Miller J, Gouwens N, Arkhipov A, Murphy G, Tasic B, Zeng H, Hawrylycz M, Sumbul U

Human neocortical expansion involves glutamatergic neuron diversification

Nature
October 6, 2021

Berg J, Sorensen SA, Ting JT, Miller JA, Chartrand T, Buchin A, Bakken TE, Budzillo A, Dee N, Ding SL, Gouwens NW, Hodge RD, Kalmbach B, Lee C, Lee BR, Alfiler L, Baker K, Barkan E, Beller A, Berry K, Bertagnolli D, Bickley K, Bomben J, Braun T, Brouner K, Casper T, Chong P, Crichton K, Dalley R, de Frates R, Desta T, Lee SD, D'Orazi F, Dotson N, Egdorf T, Enstrom R, Farrell C, Feng D, Fong O, Furdan S, Galakhova AA, Gamlin C, Gary A, Glandon A, Goldy J, Gorham M, Goriounova NA, Gratiy S, Graybuck L, Gu H, Hadley K, Hansen N, Heistek TS, Henry AM, Heyer DB, Hill D, Hill C, Hupp M, Jarsky T, Kebede S, Keene L, Kim L, Kim MH, Kroll M, Latimer C, Levi BP, Link KE, Mallory M, Mann R, Marshall D, Maxwell M, McGraw M, McMillen D, Melief E, Mertens EJ, Mezei L, Mihut N, Mok S, Molnar G, Mukora A, Ng L, Ngo K, Nicovich PR, Nyhus J, Olah G, Oldre A, Omstead V, Ozsvar A, Park D, Peng H, Pham T, Pom CA, Potekhina L, Rajanbabu R, Ransford S, Reid D, Rimorin C, Ruiz A, Sandman D, Sulc J, Sunkin SM, Szafer A, Szemenyei V, Thomsen ER, Tieu M, Torkelson A, Trinh J, Tung H, Wakeman W, Waleboer F, Ward K, Wilbers R, Williams G, Yao Z, Yoon JG, Anastassiou C, Arkhipov A, Barzo P, Bernard A, Cobbs C, de Witt Hamer PC, Ellenbogen RG, Esposito L, Ferreira M, Gwinn RP, Hawrylycz MJ, Hof PR, Idema S, Jones AR, Keene CD, Ko AL, Murphy GJ, Ng L, Ojemann JG, Patel AP, Phillips JW, Silbergeld DL, Smith K, Tasic B, Yuste R, Segev I, de Kock CPJ, Mansvelder HD, Tamas G, Zeng H, Koch C, Lein ES

Systematic Integration of Structural and Functional Data into Multi-scale Models of Mouse Primary Visual Cortex

Neuron
March 5, 2020

Billeh YN, Cai B, Gratiy SL, Dai K, Iyer R, Gouwens NW, Abbasi-Asl R, Jia X, Siegle JH, Olsen SR, Koch C, Mihalas S, Arkhipov A

Common cell type nomenclature for the mammalian brain

eLife
December 29, 2020

Miller JA, Gouwens NW, Tasic B, Collman F, van Velthoven CT, Bakken TE, Hawrylycz MJ, Zeng H, Lein ES, Bernard A.

Integrated Morphoelectric and Transcriptomic Classification of Cortical GABAergic Cells

Cell
November 12, 2020

Gouwens NW, Sorensen SA, Baftizadeh F, Budzillo A, Lee BR, Jarsky T, Alfiler L, Baker K, Barkan E, Berry K, Bertagnolli D, Bickley K, Bomben J, Braun T, Brouner K, Casper T, Crichton K, Daigle TL, Dalley R, de Frates RA, Dee N, Desta T, Lee SD, Dotson N, Egdorf T, Ellingwood L, Enstrom R, Esposito L, Farrell C, Feng D, Fong O, Gala R, Gamlin C, Gary A, Glandon A, Goldy J, Gorham M, Graybuck L, Gu H, Hadley K, Hawrylycz MJ, Henry AM, Hill D, Hupp M, Kebede S, Kim TK, Kim L, Kroll M, Lee C, Link KE, Mallory M, Mann R, Maxwell M, McGraw M, McMillen D, Mukora A, Ng L, Ng L, Ngo K, Nicovich PR, Oldre A, Park D, Peng H, Penn O, Pham T, Pom A, Popović Z, Potekhina L, Rajanbabu R, Ransford S, Reid D, Rimorin C, Robertson M, Ronellenfitch K, Ruiz A, Sandman D, Smith K, Sulc J, Sunkin SM, Szafer A, Tieu M, Torkelson A, Trinh J, Tung H, Wakeman W, Ward K, Williams G, Zhou Z, Ting JT, Arkhipov A, Sümbül U, Lein ES, Koch C, Yao Z, Tasic B, Berg J, Murphy GJ, Zeng H

Identification of genetic markers for cortical areas using a Random Forest classification routine and the Allen Mouse Brain Atlas

PLoS One
September 4, 2019

Weed N, Bakken T, Graddis N, Gouwens N, Millman D, Hawrylycz M, Waters J

Classification of electrophysiological and morphological neuron types in mouse visual cortex

Nature Neuroscience
June 17, 2019

Gouwens NW, Sorensen SA, Berg J, Lee C, Jarsky T, Ting J, Sunkin S, Feng D, Anastassiou C, Barkan E, Bickley K, Blesie N, Braun T, Brouner K, Budzillo A, Caldejon S, Casper T, Castelli D, Chong P, Crichton K, Cuhaciyan C, Daigle T, Dalley R, Dee N, Desta T, Dingman S, Doperalski A, Dotson N, Egdorf T, Fisher M, de Frates RA, Garren E, Garwood M, Gary A, Gaudreault N, Godfrey K, Gorham M, Gu H, Habel C, Hadley K, Harrington J, Harris J, Henry A, Hill D, Josephsen S, Kebede S, Kim L, Kroll M, Lee B, Lemon T, Liu X, Long B, Mann R, McGraw M, Mihalas S, Mukora A, Murphy GJ, Ng L, Ngo K, Nguyen TN, Nicovich PR, Oldre A, Park D, Parry S, Perkins J, Potekhina L, Reid D, Robertson M, Sandman D, Schroedter M, Slaughterbeck C, Soler-Llavina C, Sulc J, Szafer A, Tasic B, Taskin N, Teeter C, Thatra N, Tung H, Wakeman W, Williams G, Young R, Zhou Z, Farrell C, Peng H, Hawrylycz MJ, Lein E, Ng L, Arkhipov A, Bernard A, Phillips J, Zeng H, Koch C

BioNet: A Python interface to NEURON for modeling large-scale networks

PLOS | ONE
August 2, 2018

Gratiy SL, Billeh YN, Dai K, Mitelut C, Feng D, Gouwens NW, Cain N, Koch C, Anastassiou CA, Arkhipov A

Generalized leaky integrate-and-fire models classify multiple neuron types

Nature Communications
February 19, 2018

Teeter C, Iyer R, Menon V, Gouwens N, Feng D, Berg J, Szafer A, Cain N, Zeng H, Hawrylycz M, Koch C, Mihalas S

Systematic generation of biophysically detailed models for diverse cortical neuron types

Nature Communications
February 19, 2018

Gouwens NW, Berg J, Feng D, Sorensen SA, Zeng H, Hawrylycz MJ, Koch C, and Arkhipov A

Visual physiology of the Layer 4 cortical circuit in silico

PLoS Computational Biology
November 12, 2018

Arkhipov A, Gouwens NW, Billeh YN, Gratiy S, Iyer R, Wei Z, Xu Z, Berg J, Buice M, Cain N, da Costa N, de Vries S, Denman D, Durand S, Feng D, Jarsky T, Lecoq J, Lee B, Li L, Mihalas S, Ocker GK, Olsen SR, Reid RC, Soler-LLavina G, Sorensen SA, Wang Q, Waters J, Scanziani M, Koch C

Synchronization of firing in cortical fast-spiking interneurons at gamma frequencies: a phase-resetting analysis

PLoS Computational Biology
September 30, 2010

Gouwens NW, Zeberg H, Tsumoto K, Tateno T, Aihara K, Robinson HP

Signal propagation in Drosophila central neurons

Journal of Neuroscience
May 13, 2009

Gouwens NW, Wilson RI

Sensory processing in the Drosophila antennal lobe increases reliability and separability of ensemble odor representations

Nature Neuroscience
November 10, 2007

Bhandawat V, Olsen SR, Gouwens NW, Schlief ML, Wilson RI

The contribution of resurgent sodium current to high-frequency firing in Purkinje neurons: an experimental and modeling study

Journal of Neuroscience
June 15, 2003

Khaliq ZM, Gouwens NW, Raman IM